Eddy Weetaltuk has lain in a simple grave, marked only by a decaying wooden cross, since he died in 2005, at the age of 73.

To the casual observer it’s just another, lonely burial site in the remote community of Umiujaq, on the wind-blown shores of Hudson Bay.

Inaccessible by road, this tiny settlement of just over 400 souls is almost out of mind in our modern world.

Few, outside his family, know Eddy fought for Canada in the Korean War and served in our Armed Forces for more than 15 years.

He is one of those unrecognized heroes, each of whom dedicated a significant part of their lives to preserve our freedom.

The late Eddy Weetaltuk.University of Manitoba Press

At this annual time of remembrance, it is appropriate that we respect all those who fought for and served our country.

They did it with no thought of being honoured and no expectation of being remembered.

The remembering part is our responsibility, each one of us who live in freedom.

To be sure, there are few Canadians who fail to pause and think, if only for a fleeting moment, about the hundreds of thousands of military members who sacrificed so much for each of us over the years.

Eddy’s grave (Courtesy Al Patterson)

But there are large groups of people who have simply gone unnoticed and among them are the First Nations, Metis, Inuit and black volunteers of our country’s military.

Of course, being forgotten is not limited to visible minorities and Indigenous people, but most of them went through a lot more than the rigours of battle to serve their country.

Members of these groups were less than welcome when war broke out back in 1917, when they were often told, “this is a white man’s war.”

Even though 4,000 Indigenous people volunteered and 300 died in the conflict, many were under the misapprehension they were breaking the law just by leaving the north.

Blacks served in spite of discrimination and shunning by the Canadian military.

In April 1917, Major General Sir Willoughby Garçons Gwatkin, chief of the general staff (CGS) said: “The civilized negro is vain and imitative; in Canada, he is not being impelled to enlist by a high sense of duty; in the trenches he is not likely to make a good fighter; and the average white man will not associate with him on terms of equality.”

Despite such racism, the all-black, #2 Construction Battalion, was established in 1916 and served with distinction.

Consisting of 605 men and 19 officers, its members served in France with the Canadian Forestry Corps.

As a sign of the times, all the officers but one were white, with the lone exception being Rev. William Andrew White who served as the unit’s chaplain.

In the First World War, Cpl. Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa from the Parry Island Band near Parry Sound, Ontario, received the Military Medal and two bars for his bravery and is Canada’s most decorated Aboriginal soldier.

In the Second World War, Tommy Prince, a member of the Brokenhead band in Manitoba, became one of the most decorated soldiers in Canadian history for his bravery in Italy and France as a member of the “Devil’s Brigade.”

Yet, far too often, bravery on the battlefield did not translate to recognition at home.

Frequently, First Nations soldiers returned home only to fall into obscurity, the societal prejudice against them unchanged.

As we honour our military history on Nov. 11 we should spare a few thoughts for these members of the armed forces who don’t come immediately to mind.

People like Eddy Weetaltuk. He will receive a little of the recognition he deserves in the late spring of 2019, when the Last Post Fund will place a military headstone on his grave in his home village.

It is, perhaps, the first, official marker made for an Inuk veteran and it will bring with it some of the dignity and respect he is owed by all Canadians at his final resting place.

There is much to think about when we pin those poppies on our lapels each year.

We should wear them proudly and share our remembrance with the entire military community, past and present.

It is, quite simply, the right thing to do.

Col. Gilbert Taylor (HCol ret’d) is President of LPF Ontario and Past President of the Royal Canadian Military Institute

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